


He knew, but he didn't want to.

by Lieemforlovers



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Frisk Has Issues, Frisk and Chara are not swapped, I Ship It, I'm Bad At Tagging, M/M, Oblivious Papyrus, Papyrus Has Issues, Papyrus is oblivious, Post-Underswap Genocide Route, Sans Has Issues, Sans is older, Sans knows, Yes sans this is borderline fontcest, underswap - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-05-26
Updated: 2016-07-08
Packaged: 2018-07-10 10:46:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 11,478
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6981202
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lieemforlovers/pseuds/Lieemforlovers
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Not having memories of something happening doesn't mean that one don't know they happened, and Sans would know. After all, while he may not remember these resets, facts just don't lie and now his nightmares are getting more and more detailed. And how is he supposed to help his brother, who simply thinks he knows nothing? </p><p>...And is he ready to tell him what he knows in the first place?</p><p>(Edited summary)</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Have we been here before?

**Author's Note:**

> There was a bunch of text here, but I didn't really find it relevant anymore. Hopefully updating on Fridays/saturdays from now on.

He knew.

Sans walked down the snowy path, patrolling for humans as usual. Well, he knew there wasn't point, but it helped him relax. He wanted to pretend he didn't know, well, he does pretend he doesn't know, but but he wanted to fool even himself.

If he could, then maybe he could stay the same, and be just as happy as he wants to...

He knows.

He knows everything.

No, he doesn't remember, but he knows.

He knows the pain his brother is in, and he knows he cannot help.

Helping would mean he knew, and that would bring the taller more pain than anything.

He could be fluffy, he could be cute.

He could be innocent, if it meant his brother was happy.

...But he wasn't.

* * *

 

Papyrus was lazing around like usual, sleeping on his post. Alphys had already yelled at him several times before, but he really didn't care.

He was tired.

Tired of this endless battle, the one he always lost.

He wanted it to end, but even if he did, he'd come back.

Nothing'll stop it, nothing'll end it, and nothing'll making it enjoyable.

Drugs were useful, Cigarettes a daily need, Alcohol a nightly need.

Anything and everything to numb the pain. He couldn't laugh, he couldn't smile, he couldn't live happily.

He didn't care if he no longer held a smile, he didn't care if his eyes were always lost.

He still had his brother, and his brother did it for him.

His brother was happy, his brother was innocent...His brother smiled.

He couldn't, not anymore.

* * *

 

"You can do it, i promise! You can be a good person."

The child took another step forward.

"eh...ah uhhh, y- you want a hug?"

And another.

"w- whoah, huh, my methods must be working flawlessly!"

...They stopped.

"hm? ah, you stopped...that's good too, you know, its fine, it's good, all good..."

"I don't get you." The voice was without emotion, blank as a white sheet of paper.

"hah? wh- what do you?"

"How are you doing it?"

"...I'm sorry, I don't know what you me-"

"Smiling, laughing, fooling around, making puns, using puzzles...How?"

"w- well, i guess it's because i l- like doing it?"

"You know what I'm talking about."

sans froze, he knew, he knew all too well, but he didn't want to. "n- n- no?"

"Sans, you're not an idiot."

"o- of course not, i'm the magnificent sans, i'm very c- clever..."

"..."

His voice had failed him repeatedly, he knew he wasn't fooling anyone right now. He knew what was up, he knew the story, he knew the "game".

But he couldn't know, he shouldn't know, he wouldn't know...he didn't want to know...yet he didn't want to be the person he pretended to be.

He didn't want to be an innocent little marshmallow who didn't know anything, he didn't want to be the ignorant brother who's words of comfort meant nothing, because he 'doesn't know' what's going on, he didn't want to lock himself in his bedroom, aware of the tall ones night terrors, whilst ignoring his own incapability to sleep.

He found going to bed every night to be the worst moment of the day. When he did, there were no restrictions on him, and without them, his fears came back to haunt him.

He knew, he knew too much.

There were things he knew, but the brother did not. Things he didn't want to be known.

Things that shouldn't be known.

He actually had pretty decent sleeps, it was trying to do so that halted him.

Sometimes, he'd go an entire night without sleep, sometimes he just fell directly onto the bed and fell asleep. The latter being significantly rarer.

And now, he was faced with someone that could, and probably would, end his life. And yet he held on, he didn't know, he shouldn't know, he couldn't know.

He wanted to think that he could just die with his secrets, but really, he couldn't.

He'd come back, after all.

"...human...i will always forgive you, no matter what, even if my soul does not wish to..."

The human, or at least, the child, wavered for a bit, and sans felt his soul sink. He knew. He knew it all.

"Even if I kill your brother?"

He knew the answer to this one, he always knew. "you already have."

The waver was there again, the slight doubt in their eyes, who could barely be seen as hair covered most of their face.

"...And keep you alive?"

He knew the answer to this as well. "...I wouldn't kill you, I wouldn't be able to."

"Why?"

The skeletons eyes (eye sockets + pinpricks of blue light) turned slightly solemn, and smile a little more genuine. His posture overall more relaxed, but not sloppy.

"human...it's who i am, whether i like it or not...i...just don't kill."

He looked them in the eye, catching a glint of something he very much wanted to win.

"That's it? a simple principle, 'who you are', are you kidding me? You let people die because of that!?" Slowly, but steadily, emotion began creeping up in the words as the human took another step forwards. Sans took great notice of it, but did not change his mentality.

"...I am not the one to hate, human, I am not the one to judge, human, I am not the one who will save...Human, I am the one who forgives, I am the one who will always be there, when you need me, I am the one who is...stupid, yes, I am an idiot, I don't learn form my mistakes, I don't value between the life of one and the one of many. "

This time, the boney monster was the one to take a step forward.

"I'm pathetic, there's a reason I don't have any friends, there's a reason I'm not in the royal guard, there's a reason...My brother has to endure the pain he does..."

He took another step, and the human flinched at his every action. He moved no more than necessary, and continue to talk as he continued to take a few more steps.

"And all of it, is because I am pathetic, and no matter what, I cannot raise my hand against you. I will not fight you, even if it means my death, even if it brings pain to others. I do not know how to protect, I will try, but I will most likely fail..."

And then he stopped. Silence prodding the air, until he spoke up, slightly more cheery than the few last paragraphs, but still solemn.

"So human, make your choice, for there is no reason to wait, since you know what you want to know."

A bit more than a meter apart, they stood, one looking the other in the eye, and the other turning away.

The hand holding a dusted weapon trembled, and lost its grip.

Tears flooded down, sobs breaking free uncontrollably.

Two bone hands stretched out, gesturing an invitation towards a hug, which was messily accepted. Sans stood there, stroking the head of the sobbing child in his arms, considering a choice he now had.

His bones were since long summoned, ready to attack at any time.

It was not true, he could kill, he had killed.

But he did not wish to kill, and this particular child, for several reasons, he would not kill.

This child...He would forgive.

He unsummoned the bones, and stopped stroking the child head. He pulled away, only so slightly, and did his version of a smile, which was smiling a little wider and a little more cheerfully. "better?"

"...sans...I...could go back...I could make everything better again...d- do-“

"do i want you to?"

The human nodded, slowly but surely.

"...i...do, if it means saving all those people...then..." The human stopped him there, knowing what he was about to say.

"l will, then..."

The human was about to do it, when suddenly, he got an idea.

"um, could i leave a message?"

"...like a secret code word that only you know, and you would know the whole story by me just saying it?" They said excited, mood a lot brighter than before. Sans acted like that, a lot, and he knew it helped others...but he actually never really liked it that much, to be honest, he preferred the cool, calm, and collected type, like his brother. But he was better at cute, and he was better at innocent. He knew Papyrus would be saddened if he knew, so he'd rather not tell...

"eeeh? i don't really have anything like that." the disappointment was clear. "but...well, there's a thing that I would of only told you in this kind of situation and for that kind of purpose."

"...that seems weirdly complicated...so, what is it?" They asked, now increasingly curious.

"Um...you know Riverman, right?"

The human thought back to the hooded boatman "Yeah?"

"his real name is WB Gaster, and his wife is actually just called riverperson, since she was born by a river, she actually had his job before him, but when an accident happened, she...went away, and he took over the job and the title as a kind of tribute to her, don't tell him about any of this, he doesn't want us to know."

They were a little shocked by the superfluous of information, as well as the fact that someone as subtle as riverman had such a backstory.

"...Okay...um, er I- Is there anything I could tell you that is short and simple?"

"just say his name, since papyrus doesn't know about him, and i'll figure out a way to talk to you."

"Why do you know?"

"...well, the two of us have a rather...special connection to the couple..." Sans knew he was dodging the matter a bit too suspiciously, but seeing as the human didn't mention it any more, he didn't care much.

"okay, sans...see you later?"

"Of course, human."

And time rewind.

* * *

 

Papyrus had been drinking away his sorrows, - knowing his brothers end was nearing, and that nothing he could do would be able to stop it, even if he witnessed the whole thing - when time suddenly reset.

That shouldn't happen, not now. Sans never killed them, so the only explanations would either be that they died at the hands of another monster, or that...sans succeeded.

He didn't dare to even think of the possibility, but it was there, even if he tried to ignore it like he had always done. Maybe it'll all end, maybe the nightmare was over, maybe he could finally be....happy?

NO, STOP, no such thoughts, no imagining things that'll never happen, no getting your hopes up.

"Paps, you awake!?" sans shouted from downstairs, like he always did.

The smol monster opened the door, and was delighted to see his taller brother awake. "Good! I made tacos!"

His smile was beaming, like usual, and the taller felt his heart sink every time he saw it.

So bright, so beautiful, so happy.

The blue eye lights always followed along, repeating the same mood as the rest of his antics.

It all screamed the same things, innocent, pure, free of burdens...

He couldn't let him know, he couldn't let his older but shorter brother know anything.

It was supposed to be that way, and it was.

"Papy?" He asked, curious about the prolonged silence.

"It's nothing, bro" the tall said as he got out of bed and stood up. he pulled on his jumper on top of his black tank top, and began to head downstairs.

"...okay" Papyrus felt a little sting at that, he didn't want to make his brother worried, but right now his mind simply couldn't keep a cheery mood. Maybe some alcohol would help.

As they made their way downstairs, things were relatively quiet, as in; it was dead quiet. The meal was in a similar fashion, with the taller clearly not being in a mood for chit chat.

Sans picked up the plates, and put them away. After that, Papyrus made his way out the door, teleporting to his post as soon as he could. He appeared directly at his post, falling asleep within seconds.

* * *

 

There weren't any dust. Not a single tiny ounce, of dust.

It was like the first time, and the first time only. They didn't look him in the eye, but tried to shake his hand nonetheless.

The same trick he always did, he pulled away in the last moment, and then; "tricked ya."

Neither of them knew exactly why they had kept doing this, but somewhere along the way it had become a way to show what kind of run it was.

Silence and no movement, meant bad run, attack, meant really bad run, hand shake, but no comment, meant neutral, and handshake followed by laughter meant really good run.

Do note that the only time the last one happened was the first few times, and since then nothing truly good had happened.

This time, a smile.

That was new, not full on laughing, but a little snicker followed by a look of solemn.

"Could I have a high-five at least?"

It was...an odd question. And a new one. As asked he put his hand in the air, and decided to go through with it and give them their high five.

"Um..." The skeleton was sure how to continue, it was clear that this time was going to be different, but not how, and so a silence engulfed the conversation.

"Paps!!" He heard a familiar voice shout. He wasn't too surprised by it, since he had after all done this before. He knew he hadn't told the human anything, but he also knew he didn't have to.

The human ran over to the conveniently shaped lamp, and hid.

After that, things were exactly the same as the very first time. The human spared everything they encountered, completed the puzzles carefully, laughed at sans' bad puns.

Everything was nice, for once. A feeling he had since long forgotten. But he knew, he knew he shouldn't get comfortable, if he did, then the loss would be so much worse.

This time, he actually got to watch the fight between them. He was watching secretly, leaning against a tree trunk behind some bushes, watching as the battle began.

Suddenly, the human stopped. Papyrus felt a a spike of fear in his chest, worried that thing might not go they way he wanted him to.

Was this the goal? Sparing everyone but his brother? It would certainly be cruel, and would break his heart.

"W.B Gaster."

The fear changed to confusion, as a sense of déjà vu stung at the mentioned name. Where had he...?

He looks towards sans, and his confusion grew. He had a a series of expressions he simply couldn't remember small monster ever having.

Shock, and then an odd calm, as if realising what they were getting at, coupled with a sense of solemn. The small skeleton closed his eyes for a few seconds, and then looked up with a happy, yet sad expression.

As said, all of these expressions were completely foreign to the tall one, who felt like jumping out and interrupting, but doubted he'd get his answers that way.

"what is your name?" The older skeleton said, in a similar fashion to the expressions he had showed.

"Frisk." Papyrus nodded to himself, he knew that, at least, they told him the first time, the very first time.

Sans stood still, then asked another question?

"...what is their name?" And papyrus was back to confusion, what did he-

"Chara."

The smallest closed his eyes, taking in the information he'd just received. The tallest was still confused.

"H- hey..." The human said, unsure of their own words.

"Hm?" His attention was back up again.

"I- Is it true?" a quiet sob could heard, as the human was starting to break into tears.

"...what is?"

"You'll forgive me...n- no matter what?"

Sans' eyes widened a little, as he knew quite clearly what the human was getting at. Papyrus, didn't.

His expression turned back into one Papyrus very much did recognise.

"Yup! I'm the magnificent sans, of course I'll forgive you, hum- Frisk!" His voice alone was beaming, expression fitting to a tee, smile bright. It was as if all of the previous event were gone in an instant.

Frisk smiled, but tears accompanied the expression. They closed their eyes, still crying. Before they knew it, sans had come up to them and given them a hug, comforting them calmly.

"shhhh, it's alright." The skeletons voice had an odd clang to it, calm, solemn and most especially, mature.

He knew, it was obvious, he knew.

Frisk hugged back, not even trying to contain their tears now.

Papyrus was confused, but a sting in his heart was growing. He knew. There was no doubting it, sans knew. About the resets, and the deaths...he knew.

His brother wasn't innocent.

And he didn't want to admit it.

* * *

 

Sans had noticed the oddity in the humans behaviour from the very beginning. He had an odd feeling that they had met before...and he knew that it was fully possible that that was the case.

Papyrus was unweary and on edge whenever the human approached anyone, as if he wasn't sure any good would come out of it.

Especially sans himself.

...

He had his suspicions, and they grew with every passing minute.

The human had an LV of 1, so they clearly hadn't killed anyone...this time round.

Sans felt his heart sink, not sure of anything, but aware of a lot of possibilities.

The human's soul had an echo, one most wouldn't notice even if they stared at it for hours and days, but to sans it was clear. There were two of them, and together they had incredible power...and the echo was...somehow sinister.

The thing he noticed first however, was an emotion he wasn't sure how to feel about.

Guilt, endless amounts of guilt.

He had a pretty good idea of why, and he wasn't too happy about it, but decided to let things go their way and didn't say anything.

He acted the way he probably should, by acting how he would of if he was who he pretended to be...and things went alright, he guessed.

The human seemed to be keeping up an act of sorts as well...until a particular moment.

He was about to start a battle, when...

"W.B. Gaster."

His mind raced, going through every possible reason the child would know that name, as well as why they would say it here and now. They seemed to be on the verge of breaking apart, so he decided to leave some pf his questions for later.

"what is your name?" He asked, it was a simple question.

"Frisk." The odd feeling of knowing them came back, but he had one more question, one that would clear up a lot of things if answered.

"what is their name?" He watched the human, closely and thoroughly, making sure to catch every change of expression.

"Chara." They said, confirming yet another group of suspicions he had.

That was all he needed, at least for now. Frisk seemed to break apart, so he decided to comfort them after reassuring that he very much did forgive them, no matter what...

When they had calmed down, sans got to thinking about a problem that had bothered him since quite some time ago.

He knew, he knew that papyrus had witnessed it all, and that he most likely was increasingly confused.

Had it been any other situation, revealing that he wasn't as innocent as he made it seem wouldn't of been an option, but now...he might as well. The human needed his help, and helping them might in turn help his brother.

And as much as he didn't want Papyrus to know, if it meant reliving him of his largest burden, he was ready to take that blow.

Frisk had gone quiet, unsure of what to say after their outburst of tears.

He invited them home, saying he did not need to capture them, since they clearly weren’t in a state to be captured. He didn't mention that he also didn't want them and the rest of humanity to die, since he was painfully aware of what capturing a human and sending it to Toriel truly meant.

He wasn't sure he wanted to in the first place, and certainly not now.

He felt like using a shortcut, but his brothers eyes were on him and that was a few too many uncovered secrets in one day, so just walked home together with the human.

He chitchatted along the way, though honestly, he was the one talking, with Frisk occasionally answering in short sentences or words.

He mentioned his brother a lot, a habit he had always kept, and knew his brother did the same. It made him feel a bit giddy inside, knowing he was a part of his brothers life even when not present.

When they got home, he gave them a blanket to warm themself up with, and thought about making some tacos, before deciding that perhaps his terrible tacos weren't the best idea at the moment.

He knew he was bad at it, but he didn't have anyone that could teach him properly. (Al, as good of a person she was, was more into instant noodles and store/restaurant bought food than home cooked, and honestly had no idea how to actually cook)

He spotted some chocolate in the fridge, most likely put there by Papyrus - he had quite the sweet tooth, and wouldn't be surprised if his bones tasted like sugar with how much he consumed - and decided it would be better than nothing.

Frisk appreciated the food, and ate a few bites happily. He turned on the TV, showing the usual Napstabot show - This time a romantic drama - which he quite liked. He sat on the couch next to the human, and they watched the show.

And the next, and the one after that, and after that...Eventually they fell asleep, and didn't wake up until next morning.

 

* * *

 

  
Papyrus who hadn't dared to enter the house before the two were asleep, opened the door and went inside.

He felt a twist in his soul at the sight, knowing that there were hopefully nothing dangerous about the human who was leaning on his brother - who did the same - but also that his brother might of been keeping some pretty important things from him.

Papyrus knew he didn't remember...but that did not mean he didn't know.

...

He was going to have a chat when the two woke up.

 


	2. Ignorance isn't always bliss

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Papyrus realizes he may have been missing out on more than he expected.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Boo-yah!
> 
> Yeah, finally, for gods sake, finally. This is the Beta read version of chapter two, and it took waaay too long... -_- 
> 
> It was different enough for me to just delete the former version and replace it with this~~
> 
> So yeah, hope you like it.

It was a long night for the tall skeleton. It was dead, dark, cold, and quiet. The very same house that he once had thought to be full of life and light whenever his dear brother was there, now seemed colder and darker than when only one of them was left living, even though three currently resided within the house. 

 

The skeletons face was a mask of no emotion, eyelights diluted and staring into nothing. He made no movement or sound. He was just quietly taking in everything that had happened in the last few hours and trying to make sense of it. He was hunched over on a chair, straddling it by leaning over the back looking like a overgrown gargoyle. It was a bit too small for his size, as he had to lean over by quite a bit, and his legs more than touched the ground. 

 

His overall posture looked like he was sleeping or even on his way to falling down, but his eye sockets were open, and any monster worth its salt would be able to detect the restless magic constantly emitting from the skeleton.

 

His imagination was running on all cylinders, trying to make sense of all he had heard and seen throughout the day. He thought out a few scenarios, and out of the ones that might be vaguely plausible, one stood out by quite a lot. It was the one that he really didn't want to even consider possible, but also the one that made the most sense. 

 

Sans…he knew. Papyrus didn't know how, but Sans somehow knew. Papyrus didn't know how much, but Sans still knew. Papyrus didn't want him to, but nonetheless, Sans knew.

 

Sans, his older, but smaller and infinitely cuter and innocent brother...knew.

 

He couldn't pretend that wasn't the case, he wanted to, but he couldn't. He wanted to convince himself that that wasn't the case, but as he tried and failed to do so he felt his soul slowly sinking, lower and lower as he came closer to knowing he had to accept that Sans knew, whether he liked it or not. 

 

By now he couldn't keep a lid on his emotions - not that the magic emitting from his restless soul wasn’t a dead giveaway to any monsters anyway – and he felt his body tense up as his pinpricks of light become more focused. His hands clenched together, so he gripped the back of the chair hard as if it was his only lifeline. His phalanges clenching hard enough for it to start hurting.  

 

Nonetheless, he wasn’t quite ready to accept that fact, or at least not the entirety of it. He wanted to think that maybe, just maybe, Sans didn’t know all of it. Maybe he knew there was such a thing as resets, and that's it, you know? It doesn't mean...It doesn't mean...

 

I doesn't mean he knows what they did, right?

 

…Well, considering he was now tensing up so much his whole body was shaking, and his grip on the chairs back was by now causing small creaks from the woodwork from how hard he was clutching  his phalanges, he knew deep down that wasn’t the case.

 

_But._

 

He didn't want to admit it, he really didn't want to admit it.

_But but but._

 

He gritted his teeth and gulped, he still didn't want to admit it.

 

_Butbutbutbutbut- No. no. NO! T- that couldn’t’ be the case!_

 

Sitting straight up his eye sockets were now wide open, and together with the gritted teeth curled upwards in an feeble attempt to smile, could easily be seen as a little unhinged. He was lucky he didn’t actually need to breathe as he would have forgotten to do so long ago. 

 

_Lucky guess, that worked, that had to be it, that's what happened. He couldn't KNOW, HE SHOULDN'T KNOW..._

 

He felt tears forming in his eye sockets as his mind continued to break apart and down into a confused mess. He tried and failed to find any other possible explanation for what he had seen. A few ragged breaths escaped him, all sounding like attempts to laugh, but as they became shorter and shorter all such indication disappeared, and instead they became heavy sobs. 

 

Tears flooded down his cheeks as he returned to gritting his teeth almost painfully hard in order to stifle the sound of him crying. He noticed his hands was shaking, no longer gripping the back of the chair. When had he let go?

 

He shakily brought one hand up to his face, covering it in an attempt to hide his tears, but the contact somehow only made him fall apart more. The other hand was also raised and now both of them was grasping at his face in order to somehow stop the tears. He lowered himself onto the back of the chair again, leaning on it and sobbing away quietly.

 

There was no doubting it, Sans definitely knew. He didn’t know for how long, but right here and right now Sans definitely knew. 

 

...But what made him break apart wasn't anger over how Sans hadn't told him, it wasn't the fear of how his brother might not be who he thought he was...It was the guilt, the guilt over not knowing that the Sans did know.

 

"...And I should of known that he did…"

 

\-----

 

Sans had a rather unusual dream.

 

To be exact, he had a nightmare. Luckily, his dreams never really seemed to show on him as he slept, so it's difficult to tell when he had them. Though it might just be that all his negative emotions were kept locked inside that they never showed, even whilst sleeping.

 

It wasn’t that nightmares were that unusual, but this time things were a bit different. Images flashed through him, instances and moments, some he could clearly recognize, others were foreign. He saw himself doing things he couldn’t remember doing, he saw Papyrus doing things he couldn’t remember him doing, he saw everyone he knew doing thing he couldn’t remember them doing. He saw the surface, he saw himself living on the surface.

 

And then there was the ‘human’.  

 

Every instant they were there and they never did the same things. Sometimes they said that thing, sometimes another. Sometimes they did that thing, sometimes another. Not a single instant was the same…If not for killing. Sure enough, sometimes it was in different and new ways, but also in the exact same way several times over. He died, they died, she died, someone died, everyone died… 

 

Slowly the instances turned into death, death and more death. He saw his own death, Papyrus’ death, Papyrus killing the child and thus the child’s death. Everyone he knew he saw die, die and die, again and again and again.

 

And then he saw the very same child crying in his arms, repeating sorry over and over. Shaking so hard it could be counted as vibrating with arms gripping his scarf so hard it almost tore apart. Tears were flooding down faster than a river, and their voice broke in every attempt at an apology. 

 

He accepted that apology then, and he knew would accept it again. When he finally woke up, he was in turmoil, and a single bead of sweat escaped from the back of his head, in a place no one could see it. He wanted to pretend it was just his own imagination acting up and that the more morbid parts of the ‘dream’ was just ‘a dream’, but he knew himself well enough to know that that wasn’t the case. It had all happened, every instant, every moment, every death. It proved all his suspicions towards the child and what they both had done.

 

He had to make sure it wouldn't show too much on his face since he was painfully aware that he wasn't alone in the room, judging by the all too familiar magic outflow enveloping saturating the room. His brother could be a few meters away, at most, and since the magic seemed quite restless, he was probably in for quiet an unpleasant chat.

 

Sans squinted one eye open, and looked around as best as he could. His brother was asleep on a chair, straddling it and leaning his upper half on the back

 

He had probably been there the whole night, waiting for the skeleton and human to wake up. Sans knew that Papyrus was usually a heavy sleeper in most cases, but this wasn't one of them. A single noise and he'd probably notice, so the smaller monster was lying perfectly still, only slightly squinting.

 

Frisk was asleep leaning on his shoulder. They seemed like a light sleeper, so waking them would probably be easy.

 

After establishing the current situation, he began to ponder on what his next move should be. He knew there wasn't any getting out from this situation, so it was more about how to properly explain things.

 

And what to explain.

 

There were things that, if he chose to, he could leave out, things that...he really didn't want to talk about. Things that would completely shatter the worldview his younger brother had, or at least, the view he had of Sans. But Sans knew in his soul he had to. He couldn't keep lying to Papyrus, it had to end. Looking over at the clock - 8:36 - he decided that he should probably stop pretending to be asleep. He shifted his position, letting the human carefully fall onto the couch, and stood up.

 

He put the blanket, which he just now noticed had been covering the two of them (most likely put there by Papyrus) on the other small form, who continued to sleep soundly. He was incredibly cautious in his movements in order to not wake them. 

 

He was still facing the child, not quite daring to look at his brother, who was to silent to still be asleep. Stuck on what to do next, he jumped and tensed up when he heard a soft grunt from behind. It wasn't the kind of grunt people make when waking up but the kind you make to catch someone’s attention.

 

"go-“ gritting his teeth, he felt his body tense quivering “-good morning, paps," The small skeleton eventually got out, back still turned towards the mentioned monster. 

 

"Sans," Papyrus said, and judging from the sounds Sans could hear from behind him, he also stood up, turned the chair, and sat down on it, hopefully properly.

 

"y- yeah?" Sans replied, his uncertainty was clear, but he knew he couldn't get away from this. He had saved his brother, he had saved a lot of people, so this would be worth it, right? Telling the world, or at least telling his brother, the truth. He could take that blow, he had taken worse. He was going to tell him everything. 

 

How he knows about the resets, who Gaster is, what happened all those years ago, why Alphys and him were so close from the very 'beginning', why...he hadn't told Papyrus about all this from the start

 

“paps,” He said, Taking a breath and clearing his head, he turned around, now properly facing his brother. He was smiling, but not as cheerily as usual. His eyes were still brightly blue, but the all too common shining stars in them were nowhere to be seen. “i’m sorry.”

 

"Don't be," Papyrus said with a tone Sans would give anything to not hear from him, and then looked away. It was what Sans had feared the most, and what had kept him from spilling it all to him for a very long time. He certainly wasn’t angry, and he didn’t seem to be feeling betrayed either. The words were instead full of guilt, guilt over not knowing that he knew.

 

Papyrus had always wanted to lessen the burden for him, doing anything and everything in his power so that Sans would have just a little less to do. This was much to the older ones dismay, as Sans felt the same need to protect, love and take care of his brother. Which meant that Papyrus discovering that he hadn't been able to 'protect' Sans from 'the truth' would fill him with unnecessary guilt and regret.

 

Sans sighed and took a deep breath, preparing himself for a conversation he didn’t want to have. “i don't think there would be much reason to even try to lie at this point” He said, turning around staring directly at Papyrus, who temporarily shifted his gaze to Sans again, locking eyes, before he turning his gaze away once again, nodding lightly as to confirm Sans’ statement “so i might as well come clear about it." Taking a few seconds before continuing, he breathed in through his nasal cavity, in and out as to calm himself, and then closing his eyes sockets in order to sort out his thoughts.

 

Opening them again, he confidently looked straight at Papyrus. “I know,” He stated with an unwavering voice, “I know…-“ He let his gaze fall downwards, and left a few moments of silence before continuing, “-a lot of things-“ he shut his eyes and calmly breathed in, but shakily breathed out “-you probably don’t want me to know,“ he exclaimed, turning to his right, he opened his eyes and let his gaze stick to the floor, trembling slightly before continuing, “-and things you don’t know.” He glanced up towards Papyrus, who was still deadly quiet, but now staring directly at him, concern in his eyes. Sans attempted say something, but silenced himself and turned his gaze to on the floor to the right of him. Closing his eyes, he also added “- and a few things I honestly don’t want to know myself-” In a shaky whisper. 

 

Sans wasn’t really sure on how to continue, so he went quiet. As neither of them continued, the room became filled with a silence that fast turned awkward.

 

As much as Sans wanted to get away from this moment, he also wanted to tell him everything, all of his burdens, all of his fears, all of his secrets. He didn’t want to lie, he didn’t want to hide, he didn’t want to fake. -Not that all of his childlike traits were completely fabricated, he did actually light up whenever he got excited- but even he had his bad days.

 

“Sans,” Papyrus said, breaking the silence. Sans opened his eyes and managed to turn his gaze towards his brother. “Why…-“ Papyrus stopped, leaving his mouth open for a few seconds before shakily continuing with his eye sockets closed, -“didn’t you tell me?”

 

As the smaller skeletons eyes widened and pupils beginning to tremble, a stinging sensation struck Sans’ soul. The taller skeletons every word had been laced with concern, but also a desperate fear, showing that whilst the younger mostly felt guilty, to some degree he still also felt betrayed. Sans began feeling slightly remorseful for keeping it all from his brother, but deep down he knew he still didn’t actually regret doing so. He had kept his brother from the truth for so long, and even if given the chance to go back and change it, he knew he wouldn’t take it. 

 

Closing his eyes again, he answered the question hesitantly, “because I didn’t want you to know how I knew, or at least that was why at the very start of it all.”

 

“How do you know then, or can you still not tell me or something?” A suppressed irritation, almost sarcastic, came forward in the taller skeletons words, revealing a desperate need to know just why things had ended up like this. 

 

Needless to say, Sans felt something resembling sins crawling on his back, as he didn’t exactly feel less guilty now. “no,” He said quietly, voice just above a whisper. “i know i have to tell you everything, and I’m going to.” He curled up on himself slightly, staring at the floor again. Due to habit he did make sure to not look too hurt, -Old habits die hard-, and it wasn’t like he knew how hurt he was by any of this anyway with his feelings locked up as closely as they were.

 

He was still going to tell Papyrus everything, that wasn't what bothered him, he just wasn’t sure he was ready to let go of the façade just yet, he needed it to not break apart. Knowing what he had to say, he saw no point in delaying any further. “I-“

 

“Before that,” Papyrus said, interrupting Sans, who looked up towards Papyrus in confusion.  “I want you to tell me honestly,” he paused, looking Sans in the eye. “Sans, would you of ever told me if not for this?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah...I kinda cut it and made a cliff hanger...but you know? Quality over quantity. 
> 
> Oh and, I'll be attempting to keep up a weekly schedule, I'll try my best~
> 
>  
> 
> I also made a tumblr
> 
> Art/Fics: http://demiurgicinept.tumblr.com/ 
> 
> Main/Reblog- blog: http://lieemforlovers.tumblr.com/


	3. Where even is the start?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A change of perspective does not clear up the situation.

"Would you have told me if not for this?" 

 

Sans froze, his eye sockets wide open from shock. The lights in his eyes narrowed and darkened, blurring his view of the skeleton in front of him. 

 

His eyes had always been the easiest way to tell what he was feeling, as they supposedly reflected his inner soul and thoughts. In reality, whenever he was truly happy or shocked his emotion was as transparent as clear glass. But he also have long since learned how to suppress his less positive and light-hearted emotions and reactions. Now however, now it was like a seal had been lifted and he truly was dumbstruck enough to ignore his instinctual reactions that have been ingrained into him over the years.

 

All other facial expression had dropped, and for a few moments his face became completely blank. As his hands began to shake, his eyelights dropped down, and only then did they start to focus again. He attempted to stop his shaking by clenching his hands together, but it only made it worse as his whole body slowly began to shake.

 

He attempted to say something but when he opened his mouth no words would come. He felt guilt, more so than he'd ever felt, and it made him want to hide in the deepest hole there was. 

 

He curled up on himself ever so slightly, body tensing up as a way to stop the shaking. Heck, jumping into the Core didn't seem so bad right now, and at least he'd get to see mom again.

 

_dad would be more heartbroken than ever, and the shock would probably be too much for him, so the whole family would probably end up there, except paps, he'd forget, hopefully..._

 

Well, not that he'd actually do it, he had made a promise to take care of Paps. He couldn't leave him alone, his brother needed help and support now more than ever... Though Sans was also at fault and the reason for why his brother would need him, and that was what was tearing at his soul so badly. He'd caused his brother pain, he hurt him, he hurt someone, he hurt Papyrus, he hurt HIS BROTHER. 

 

His eye sockets had gone dark since long ago, he noticed. And as he begun to lose himself in guilt, his body relaxed a bit, but the turmoil in his soul began to become noticeable.

 

His baby brother, who'd love him forever and ever, who loved his smile and his cute antics, who loved his childish habits and passions -most of which embarrassingly were very much real, his lies and covers had come from somewhere, after all-, but who also now knew his brother weren't then one he's always thought he was.

 

Sans knew...Sans knew he wouldn't have let that last one become a reality unless his brother truly was in danger of being harmed. He'd gladly live his life behind a mask of lies if it meant his brother didn't feel any of the pain he felt...But that didn't happen, and now he had to live with the consequences of his choices.

 

He couldn't bring his gaze up and he didn't dare to move. Moments began feeling like minutes as he tried to bring himself back to reality, and the air seemed to be getting heavier and heavier.

 

Guilt crawled on his back and weighed down on his neck like a noose, freezing his body and sinking his frantic soul. This hadn't been in the plan, he didn't want this!

 

For a little while, nothing happened. Neither of the skeletons moved, and both were painfully aware of what that meant.

 

What eventually broke the silence was a soft groan coming from the sofa, signalling that Frisk was waking up. Sans somehow managed to snap out of his trance and turn towards them. "Sans?" They quietly asked, still half asleep. They sat up and rubbed their hands against their eyes, squinting and making a face at the light in the room. They clearly disliked it despite how low it was.

 

Sans still didn't dare to look at his brother but it was hard to ignore him. His magical senses had always been top notch, especially those that sensed SOULs presence…And with how much frustration, guilt and uncertainty his brother was constantly radiating it was near to impossible not to notice.

 

Still, he tried…but in this case he really couldn't care whether that was 'what mattered' as it honestly didn't work very well.

 

He tried to focus his attention on the human instead, as they had clearly asked for it. They seemed to be getting a general grip of their surroundings as they were staring directly at Sans. Frisk stared at him a little before furrowing their brows in what seemed like confusion. Sans quickly realised he still looked rather frantic and shocked, and attempted to change his expression to a calmer one.

 

"good morning, frisk," he calmly said in a purposely soft and deep voice. Frisk was still half asleep, so his normal loud and chipper voice would do nothing good. He hadn't used his calm voice all that often as there were never any real reason to, but now the situation called for it. 

 

"Sans, what's wro-" as their gaze turned towards the taller skeleton, their words fell flat. They looked a little shocked, switching their gaze several times before stopping at Sans. "H- he- wha- what-" their attempts at words were incoherent and rushed, as they were quickly figuring out what had happened. “S- Sans?”

 

Sans smiled a little and let his eyes turn soft. He sighed to himself and glanced to the side away from Papyrus. “yeah?” he said under his breath.

 

“P-pap- yrus, he- he kno-“ They didn’t finish their sentence, but Sans knew exactly what they were going for. After Papyrus’ question he hadn’t actually said anything to his brother as he had immediately lost his cool. A lot of things were at the moment left unexplained, and no one in this room was going to leave without all answers they could get, including he himself.

 

“yes, he knows,” Sans said calmly. He turned partially towards Papyrus, stopping in a direction facing the space between the other two. As they were quite a bit from each other he couldn’t really look at both of them at the same time, so he left his gaze on the floor instead, occasionally glancing up at one of the two. “or at least, he was there,” he added on the side.

 

Even though he sometimes glanced up toward the taller skeleton, he hadn’t actually dared to take notice of his facial expressions. The SOUL was enough to tell anyway, but at the same time he almost felt guilty for being so much of a coward.

 

Frisk went quiet for a little while, slowly taking in the information they had received. Sans found it much easier to look at them, most likely due to not actually knowing them. Even though he found it surprisingly easy to get into the concept that they knew him, he still didn’t actually know them that well.

Well…that said, they weren’t exactly hard to figure out. While he could admit their expressions were minimal, Sans could read off the slightest disturbances in SOULs and was in general good at reading people, so that didn’t really stop him. 

 

“Sans,” Papyrus said. Sans himself jolted at the sound, and mentally hit himself for acting as scared and frightened as he currently was. Normally hiding fear or discomfort was easy, why did it have it have to be different now?

 

Papyrus sighed to himself. Sans could barely hear it, so Papyrus…probably hadn't meant for him to hear it in the first place. “You were going to tell me something?” He said, most likely trying to keep as much of a calm as he could judging by the slight undertones of irritation in his words.

 

He was right, Sans had planned to spill everything at the time. When Papyrus had asked…the question, all that confidence and will to do so had gone away and he was left unsure whether he really could it all out. At the same time every reasonable part of him knew that he was definitely not getting out of this one…

 

Sans took a deep breath, and mentally prepared himself for what would be a very long chat.

 

“i’m guessing both of you have a lot of questions, and as just answering them wont lead to anywhere, i might as well tell the whole story from the start.”

 

* * *

 

 

Frisk had been an emotional wreck for quite some time now. So much had happened and so many tears had been shed. Sans had forgiven them for what they would never forgive themselves for, and now it was looking like that decision had become the reason for Sans’ regret.

 

Did he regret it? Would he do the same again? If it wasn’t for them…then Papyrus wouldn’t have found out and Sans wouldn’t be in pain, right? W- would he still…forgive them? He has no reason to so why should he? He- he-

 

**_You really think they would forgive you after all you’ve do-_ **

 

“frisk?” Sans asked with a low and sombre tone, jolting them back into reality. They noticed that Sans hadn’t continued his speech and the two skeletons was instead staring directly at them, to their slight discomfort Papyrus had far less concern in his eyes.

 

They noticed they had slipped into a fetal sitting position, hugging their legs and shaking rather violently. They tried to calm themselves down, but nothing worked. The gazes began feeling like spears penetrating through skin and bone, telling them it was all for nothing.

 

**_I mean, Papyrus? THE Papyrus? The Papyrus who lost all care in the world except ending you?_ **

****

Papyrus hated them, why shouldn’t Sans hate him as well? Sans never said he didn’t, right? He had lied for way too long, he could be lying to them as well.

 

**_S- Sans is a liar, that’s right. He didn’t mean any of it, he knows about your dirty past, your cruelty, your darkest moments. Heck, he probably knows them better than Papyrus who’s lived through most of them. H- he must hate you for them._ **

****

“Frisk,” Sans said, now more clearly. Was that concern in his voice? No. It couldn’t have been. Sans didn’t care, Sans wouldn’t care. Sans was a liar.

 

**_Sa- Papyrus…definitely hates you, that’s for sure. Look at him, that dead and cold look, he would kill you if not fo- …he would kill you at any chance he gets._ **

 

The voice in their head continued on, their face tilted downwards letting their hair fall down and cover their face. They didn’t want Sans to see them, they didn’t want to see Sans. Their arms hugged their legs tighter and their hands gripped the fabric of their shorts hard enough to almost rip.

****

_Papyrus hates me, Sans must hate me, everyone must hate me, what did I do? Was it my fault? It was my fault. Everything was my fault, I’m the one to blame. They would have been happy if not for me, they wouldn’t be troubled if not for me._

Something was touching them, they didn’t know what and they didn’t care. They didn’t care if it was dangerous, they deserved it, they were sure they deserved death.

**_W- woah there, they’re the ones at fault!? They deserve death! They never cared about you, they were always selfish! They tried to kill you and the- then they all pretended like they hadn’t!_ **

Someone was shaking them now, but they still didn’t care and instead just crawled in on themselves further.

 

Was someone shouting? Maybe, whoever it was must be angry. Everyone must be angry, someone like Frisk was present after all. A loud heart-beat that must be theirs was beating so fast that they were almost becoming scared of it. Scared was good, they must deserve that.

Oh, come on. LISTEN TO ME FRISK! THEY’RE AT FAULT, THEY DESERVE TO DI-

 

“FRISK!” Startled by the sudden and loud voice, they once again snapped back into reality. Like they had just woke up from a horrible nightmare they were out of breath with a fastpaced heartbeat. Beads of sweat ran down their temple just like on the face of the monster looking at them worriedly. He was looking straight at them with hands resting on their shoulders. His eyelights were unusually narrow, shaking whilst emitting a sharp blue light. He seemed to be out of breath.

 

“Frisk, are you alright?” He asked. There was no doubting it, the skeleton was worried, but why would he be? He didn’t care about them, Frisk was sure of that, he had no reason to.

 

They slipped out of their fetal position by releasing their tight grip upon their legs and letting them fall to the floor. They blinked several times attempting to focus on their shaking hands, eventually revealing traces of blood on their nails. Trying to take it all in, they just stared at the pair of bloddy hands absentmindedly. Their mind went blank and their senses numb. The only thing they could hear was their loud heartbeat and the only thing they could feel was the stinging pain from their legs.

 

They began to collect their thoughts, slowly putting two and two together. They weren’t really sure of anything, all they knew was that nobody loved them, nobody cared and that nobody would want to save them. They were alone and lonely, but they deserved that so perhaps they could live with it as well?

 

…No, Frisk knew they couldn’t. They didn’t want to be alone, they didn’t want to deserve it, and they didn’t want to live with it. They wanted to be happy, to be with someone, to be loved…and maybe they were wrong, maybe they weren’t as hated, maybe…someone cared?

 

They looked up towards the skeletons who’s arms still rested on their shoulders. A few moments of silence were spent just looking at him for some sort of confirmation that he might just care, even by a little bit…

 

A small droplet ran down their tiny cheeks, followed by another, and before long tears streamed down. “Sans?” they asked quietly.

 

“yes?” he replied. His tone wasn’t calm, but it was trying to be. His hands were comforting somehow, despite that they were shaking. Frisk spotted Papyrus in the background, no longer as stern and suspicious but instead what seemed like genuinely concerned.

 

“S- Sans?” They didn’t know why they said it again, but it felt nice somehow. The skeleton didn’t reply at first, which sprouted an unexplainable fear in the human’s SOUL. They tried looking him directly in the eyes, which seemed to have some sort of effect. He seemed a little confused, but then smiled as reassuringly as he probably could at the moment. “yes?” He replied.

 

Frisk wasn’t sure why they wanted him to say it again, but they had to hear it one more time. “Sans?” Just one more time would be enough for them, just one more time.

 

The tears weren’t stopping, but somehow it was getting better. “Sans, I- I’m S- s- sorry I- It- it’s my fau- fa- fault-“ They rambled out, trying to apologize for everything any anything. They felt pathetic, but also safe, somehow.

 

“Shhh-“ he suddenly pulled them into a hug and began stroking the back of their head. “-It’s alright.” They went dumbstruck for a small amount of time, but then hugged back desperately. Somehow the already streaming tears multiplied, making them unsure just how much they were capable of crying.

 

Sans repeated his words, over and over. Each time it felt like they were going to cry more, but instead it slowly got better. Their thighs and calves hurt from the scratches they had inflicted themself, but the pain slowly numbed along with the sting in their SOUL.

 

As they began to run out of tears, they also began to slowly lose their consciousness as well. They hadn’t actually gotten that much sleep, so they would gladly accept more. The same feeling of comfort they remembered feeling yesterday when everything somehow had been both better and so much worse, filled their mind with ease as they drifted off to sleep.

 

* * *

 

 

Papyrus had watched the whole scene unfold, everything from Frisk acting up only slightly to having a full on panic attack to them bursting into tears and Sans comforting them and falling asleep. Sans had put them back in the position they had been before with the blanket on top of them.

 

Papyrus still wasn’t used to seeing Sans act as mature as he currently was, but thinking back on it he had always been a good older brother. Papyrus had always wanted Sans to be able to live happily and follow his passions without having to worry about Papyrus, but he was by now starting to realise Sans might never do so. Sans loved him, that was the one thing he always knew he could fall back on, even now, but he might of not realised just how much.

 

Sans was the cuter one, but also the older. He had never been irresponsible or naïve when it came to anything, really. The opposite was more accurate if anything. Back when they were kids Sans had taken care of them, and he was always reluctant to let Papyrus help, something Papyrus never really understood. But looking at him tucking the small child to sleep with an expression Papyrus had since long forgotten was enough to fully realise why.

 

Papyrus wanted to help because he felt that Sans needed help, because he wanted Sans to feel happy and carefree, because he wanted Sans to live happily and smile happily…What he hadn’t realised was that Sans might just have wanted the same the other way around, something he honestly wasn’t sure what to feel about. He already felt guilty, but by now he was questioning just how much there was too feel guilty about, since each realisation somehow made him feel more of it.

 

Sans stood up after a while and stretched his arms and back, sleeping on a couch with someone else leaning on you probably wasn’t especially comfortable, after all. “they didn’t actually sleep that well yesterday, and who knows when their last good night sleep was,” The smaller skeleton said in the same tone he had used more today than Papyrus had recalled him using his entire life, but he didn’t have a clear recollection of his childhood anyway, so he might of just not remembered it. Sans was still looking at the sleeping form with that one look that Papyrus felt so incredibly conflicted about.

 

Papyrus still hadn’t said anything since his little interupptionand as Sans didn’t say anything more either, it went quiet. The small skeleton still seemed a little restless from having panicked slightly as well, but he had nonetheless handled the situation surprisingly well.

 

Light skimmed through the windows, becoming brighter and brighter as time had passed, by now the room was fully alit. Sans scratched the back of his head and sighed, taking on a more carefree look more like his usual one. He wasn’t nearly as cheery and full of energy, but the slight resemblance to the brother Papyrus knew the small skeleton as was somehow comforting.

 

“well, that’s the second time i’ve tried to explain it all, i’m beginning to feel like someone’s purposely putting this off.” He said in a tone akin to his current demeanor, then turning directly towards his brother and finally looking him in the eye. Sans smiled, not the usual cute and innocent one, but instead in a more carefree and mature way. “so, papyrus,” He said, glancing out through the window next to the smaller skeleton before turning back to the younger brother. “I have something to show you, mind waiting?”

 

That…was a strange question. Slightly taken aback, Papyrus shifted his sitting position into a more proper way of sitting and stared at Sans with the dead and cold eyes he had been using far too often recently, but in a more questioning way. Sans gave no further explanation as he walked up the stairs and into the small skeletons room. After a while, long enough for Papyrus start wondering what was going on, but not long enough for him to actually check it out, he came back holding something heavy in his arms.         

 

“i was going to show you this anyway, but thinking about it i might as well start with it as well.” Sans said as he went back down the stairs. He stopped a few meters from Papyrus and put what Papyrus now noted saw was a box filled with bunches of folders and sheets of paper. Sans quickly went through them and handed Papyrus a particular folder.

 

Papyrus hesitantly accepted the folder and opened it. Inside were several pages filled to the brim with diagrams, notes and quite a few weird symbols lined up in rows. Something about them seemed familiar, was it a way of writing? Some symbols were repeated quite often and there were blank spaces which seemed to indicate that they were words.

 

Papyrus decided to take a look at what he could understand, such as the diagrams and the notes written on English. As it turns out, just because he could understand the letters didn’t mean he could understand the words, so to him most of it was scientific nonsense. “What is this supposed to mean?” Papyrus asked. Sans seemed to be a little relieved at hearing him speak again, and then chuckled slightly.

 

“don’t worry, i’m not expecting you to understand it, especially not the wingding part,” Sans said calmly, he gestured for Papyrus to give it back to him. “well, the gist of it is that, well, as quoted form the text: a massive anomaly in the timespace continuum, timelines jumping left and right, stopping and starting” Sans speeded through the last sentence a bit, probably not expecting Papyrus to actually understand most of it anyway. Papyrus himself wasn’t sure what to feel about that, but also couldn’t confidently say Sans had been wrong, what he wondered was is Sans did. “And that means?”

 

The small skeleton seemed a little stumped, but came with an answer rather quickly. “to put simply, it means there is an entity capable of messing with time to the point of resetting, saving, loading etc. basically someone with enough power to shape the world as they see fit.” That made more sense, and it wasn’t hard to figure out just who he was going for. “Frisk?”

 

Sans froze, he had still been going through the paperwork, and hadn’t stopped until now. The small skeletons face frowned slightly, and Papyrus was unsure whether it was due to the folder he was holding or due to his question, or both. He sighed and continued on, putting the folder in his hands back into the box. “yes and no,” He said eventually, “at the moment, yes-“ Getting to the end of the pile, he stood up and took the selected pile with him as he made his way over to the couch. “but there has been others, as you’ve probably noticed.”

 

Papyrus nodded mentally, immediately thinking of the furry abomination that had plagued his life for way before ‘the human’. Back then he hadn’t remembered it as clearly, but that did not mean he hadn’t had a fair share of disagreements with the critter. 

 

He sat down next to Frisk, careful to not wake them, and began skimming through what he had gathered. He stopped at one folder, and gave a particular piece of paper to Papyrus. “and then we have these” It seemed to depict some sort of diagram with several parallel vertical lines in different colours, going from the very left to stopping at different points. A bit more than halfway through the whole diagram just ended, depicting nothing further but one red line.

 

The whole page was in the weird symbols, so Papyrus couldn’t read any of it. “it’s a timeline, and the lines show respective individuals,” Sans eventually explained. Papyrus looked back on it, quickly recognizing something he did not want to. Towards the end only a few lines remained, one of them a striking orange. He looked back, and noted a striking cyanish colour.

 

“These…” He started, but lost track of where had been going rather quickly. Sans seemed to be letting him figure out most of it by himself, something he was rather grateful for.

 

“there’s plenty of them, i just picked out a few noticeable ones that don’t just show pretty much the same things.” Sans gave him the a few more, all with similar diagrams. He noted quickly that the one Sans had first given him was the only one to suddenly end halfway through. In one, all the lines lasted throughout the whole thing.

 

“What’s up with this one?” Papyrus asked as he held up the first one. Sans seemed to recognise it quickly as his eyes shuddered for an instant before returning to a slightly darker version of it’s normal form. “genocide,” he answered short and simple as he turned his gaze away from Papyrus.

 

Papyrus wasn’t exactly happy with that answer. “Why does it just end?”

 

Sans didn’t respond. Papyrus began feeling a little frustrated by now, but managed to suppress it. “Sans.”

 

Papyrus decided to wait until he got an answer, which came surprisingly soon. “because the world ends there, it’s as simple as that.” Sans said, his voice was empty, and a bit strained.

 

“So that’s how the world ends? Just like that?” Papyrus wasn’t sure what to make out of this. Was this how Sans knew about the Resets?

 

“it already has, that’s a former timeline,” Sans explained, he gestured for Papyrus to give them back once again. Papyrus hesitantly did so, but was a little confused by what Sans had just said. “the world has ended, several times in fact. but each time the one to end it was convinced by another to reboot it, i’m sure you can guess who.”

 

Papyrus had actually been following what Sans had been saying surprisingly well, but those last two sentences had caught him off guard, who would convince ‘the human’ to reboot the world? Who would there be left? “Hah?” was all he got out. Sans had frozen immediately, looking him directly in the eye. “What do you mean?” He asked a bit more clearly.

 

Sans just stared at him dumbfounded. It took a few seconds before he did anything other than it, and even when he stopped staring he still seemed rather surprised. He visibly gulped and said something under his breath. “you…” he started to say like he barely believed it. “…didn’t know, huh.”

 

“Know what?” Papyrus asked curiously. What was he missing? Sans looked towards the sleeping human with an expression of guilt and perhaps…pity?

 

“it’s normally really hard to notice.” He stopped, gritting his teeth slightly. “but their SOUL has an echo of sorts.”

 

Papyrus’ eyes widened. He may not be able to understand a lot of scientific jumble, but he wasn’t dumb, it wasn’t that hard to figure out what he was going for. “that echo...” Sans took a deep breath, seemingly finding it hard to get this out. “…is probably the one responsible for…”Sans went quiet again, but managed to get back on track. “…well, the bad stuff, if you know what i mean.” He said nothing more, and he didn’t have to. Papyrus had since long figured it out.

 

It hadn’t made sense, how ‘the human’ went from the best to the worst in seconds, why they weren’t happy with anything, why ‘the human’ had suddenly panicked and looked towards him with the most fearful eyes he had ever seen.

 

It was because the human and the…being weren’t the same. The human, Frisk, wasn’t the one who had killed them all, over and over, resetting for the fun of it, heck, Frisk may of never killed anyone, and yet they had gotten all the blame…

 

Or at least that’s what Papyrus had thought, that’s what Papyrus had assumed, that’s what Papyrus had just decided was true.

 

‘The human’ was bad, he had since long stopped caring about anything else. He had stopped caring, he couldn’t care because it just hurt when he did…he had stopped caring, and because of that he had completely missed it.

 

He couldn’t say he hadn’t thought something was strange…but he hadn’t dared to think of that possibility… He hadn’t cared…and he hadn’t figured it all out.

 

He hadn’t figured out that there was two, he hadn’t even thought of it…

 

He hadn’t figured out that there was someone hurting, someone fighting, someone good...in there.

 

He had just beaten them down.

 

…Really, was he any better than what he hated so much?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, we made it. There's a chapter out this week~~ (/◕ヮ◕)/ And its almost 5k words too ^^ !
> 
> Next chapter hopefully coming out on Friday~~


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